Bhop's World

Verthandi - Done Painting

2012-01-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Now I just have to mount her to the base and take care of any touch-ups.. here's a teaser.

Verthandi - Weapons

2012-01-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

I've been home sick the past couple days, so I used some of my time to do a little painting to the shield and axe. I started on the sword's sheath, but I think i'm done for the night.

Verthandi Update!

2011-12-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

Since I left off, i've done quite a bit of painting to her. Her body section is mostly done, just the hair to go. I also painted her cloak, which came out better than I thought it would. After the hair, it'll just be the shield and axe.. and the groundwork I guess.. still trying to decide if I want to mount her on a proper base or just on this metal display that she came with.

Panzer III - On the move

2011-09-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm still not 100% done with my Panzer, but I took it out to the park for a drive today. It seems the internal antenna isn't good enough, so i'm gonna have to do something about that.. other than that, it seems to run ok. It had a rough time over some rocky sand, which made it throw a track once, but that can be avoided with some careful driving.

Panzer III - Weathering

2011-08-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Finally the fun stuff. Making the model look used. Desert tanks took a lot of abuse from the elements. I've seen reference where a lot of the paint is worn off. This might look like overkill, but it's actually not too bad.. this is all done with Vallejo acrylic paint and a little paint brush.

The tools were painted to look like wood.. hard to tell in this pic.. the flash was a little too bright.

Next up..weathering the lower hull.

Panzer III - base coat

2011-08-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Not much of an update, but I painted the base coat and most of the markings this weekend. Also added a little weathering to the tracks with Mig pigments. Next step, put the grills on and weathering begins!

Panzer III.. ready for paint

2011-08-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

I added the front track holder, more tool detail, rear rack, glued in the cannon, weld seams on the turret, some metal grab handles, commander's cupola, soldered some wires inside that had broken off, and made an external (fake) antenna that rotates up and down like the real one..

upper hull is ready for paint.

Panzer III.. getting into detail..

2011-08-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

So, when I first began this paint/detail project, I decided I wasn't going to take it too far. A few minor things and paint and that'd be it.. well, i'm already taking it farther than I intended, but i'm still limiting myself.

This update has a few little details. They seem small, but they were time consuming.

First off is weld beads made from epoxy putty. (green stuff) I think this is one of those simple additions that adds a lot of character to a tank model. Only the front is pictured here, but it goes all the way around most of the hull panels. I didn't do everything in the spirit of 'not taking it too far' but I think i'm getting all the major parts.

You can see a few more welds on the rear deck here, but what is most obvious is the clamps and rear rack. I was originally just going to use the kit tow cables, but started thinking how much cooler an Afrika Korps tank would look with a rack full of jerry cans, so bought some resin jerry cans and I made a rack out of styrene loosely based on some reference photos. Now since there's a rack with supplies, which will probably include a tarp on at least part of the rear deck, I decided to relocate the tow cables. I've got some framing wire that'll make that handy, although i'm going to have to create the eyelet parts somehow. I don't want to spend any more money to buy pre-built cables... it's been an expensive month already with my Hooben T55 purchase, brakes for my truck, parking ticket, partying all night last weekend.. ugh..

As I mentioned above, i'm relocating the tow cables, so now that means the rear deck is empty. There should be clamps and hooks for the cables. So I made some out of styrene and some brass that was leftovers from old photoetch parts.

Last, but not least for this update is tool clamps. I have some Aber PE tool clamps, but they're so complicated, I just didn't want to use them for this build.. so I made some fake non-working ones. I think they look ok.

Big Scale T-55

2011-08-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted a big 1/16 RC Tamiya tank kit, but never really could afford one since they're all close to $1k even without a radio... or didn't want to spend that much on a "toy" anyway. Plus, with the lower priced Heng Long tanks as an alternative, I figured i'd be ok with that.

A couple years ago, a Chinese company called Hooben released a kit for a 1/16 RC Russian T55 tank. It's a "modern" tank, which is more rare in the RC world since WWII tanks seem to be preferred by the manufacturers. I've always loved the design of the T55, a tank that was the most produced tank of all time, is still in service in many countries around the world. Needless to say I wanted one, but because of the price, I didn't think much of it... until recently, when someone on one of the RC tank forums brought it up again.. next thing you know, my brain is failing me and i'm spending some major cash to get one. Not as much as a Tamiya kit, but probably still more than I should have.. oh well, you only live once eh?

So I'm not going to start building it for a while. I still have my Panzer to finish (there has been progress, just not enough for a new post), and I want to finish the other projects i've started, but I did take it out and look at it. Here are a couple pics of it with my 1/35 T55 that I built a few years ago for scale reference. It's going to be so cool!

-laters
bhop

1/16 Panzer III L - continued 7-31-11

2011-07-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

Just a small update, but it's something..

First is the headlights. I added some plastic to the top and bottom leaving the slit in the middle. I can't figure out what you call this type of light, but it seems to be used on all german vehicles in combat, while factory pics all seem to have 'regular' lights.

I built the inner frame for the intake vents out of styrene sheets. It looks a little messy, but when the PE grills are on, and painted/weathered it should look fine.

and last for now, I scribed some "wood grain" into the jack block. Again, it looks a little goofy now, but after paint/weathering it should be good.

1/16 Panzer III L

2011-07-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

If it seems like I start projects and don't finish.. well, maybe that's the case, but not really, I just put it off for a while. Still working on the MAK vignette.. still working on the Verthandi figure. There are some Gundam mobile suits I have been working on, but lately what's been taking my time is this 1/16 RC Panzer III L.

I've had it for a couple years now. I played with it for a while until the gears stripped. Then I ordered some metal upgrade gears and put it aside. Like I said, that was a couple years ago. Well, last month, I got the urge to get back to it, mostly because I found a cool spot for tank play in Griffith Park and my other two tanks weren't working right. So here we go. This one I will finish soon. I'm not superdetailing it, because it's just an RC runner, but I am doing some detail work to it because I just have to make it look cool..

First off, I bought a metal upgrade kit for it, which consists of metal drive sprocket, rear idlers, suspension, and tracks. I also bought some rear idler adjusters, metal barrel to replace the airsoft barrel with a more scale gun, and some PE parts for the rear grill and tool clamps.

I decided to paint it in the DAK (Afrika Korps) desert yellow color. In the end it should have some nice chipping effects and weathering. So far i've gotten the lower hull done (minus the weathering) and am moving on to the upper hull.

The metal shocks are much more realistic looking than the old ones. These are also the metal tracks. I've tested it around my living room and they seem to work great.

Next up, I replaced the front single molded spare tracks with some of the leftover plastic tracks. I had to modify the front rack to hold them, but I think it's going to work ok.

I added texture to the muffler and painted it. You can kinda see it on the lower part. That smooth top part isn't going to be visible. You can also see the idler adjuster here. It actually works, not just for looks.

Metal gears soldered in.

I removed the big 'rc' antenna on the rear deck and replaced it with this internal antenna. So far it seems to work ok, but I have yet to test it outside at a further distance.

Metal barrel.

I fixed the crooked commander's cupola and moved the hatches so that they still open on the sides.

Metal grills required cutting the intake boxes on the sides. I have to smooth it out some more, but they're on their way.

I cut the front lights in order to make room for a more accurate front 'slit' headlight.. dunno what else to call it..

And last for now, the little holes on top of the turret are actually screws on the real tank, so I added screw lines with a scriber. I need to clean a couple up a little, but it looks better.

So that's it for now.. next up, intake clean-up work, then more work on the upper hull!

Verthandi - Burning Ice - Legs/Bra?

2011-04-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

Progress is slow, but it is progress. I worked on her flesh tones a little more, trying to fine-tune it. I may go in with some pastels later for even more. I got the bra (or whatever you want to call it) done, then back of the loin-cloth, worked on the leg leathers and the boots.. that's about it for now.

Verthandi - Burning Ice - Flesh

2011-03-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

The flesh tones are done for the most part. I might touch it up a little, but that's about it.

I started hand brushing it last night, but it wasn't turning out like I wanted, so I ended up airbrushing since I can get a smoother finish with it. I like the way it turned out. Tonight I bought a couple new brushes after work and they were put to good use adding a few highlights and shadows, as well as touching up the eyes. I'm excited about this piece! The pics really don't do it justice. :(

Verthandi - Burning Ice

2011-03-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

I bought this awhile back. It's a 54mm fantasy figure from Andrea miniatures. I'm working on this now because I just want to paint a figure and not deal with building/detailing. Plus after the SCAHMS show, i'm in a figure kinda mood..

Here's the box.

So, first off, she's made of soft metal. First steps were to clean up the mold lines, which I did. The metal is soft, so it's basically the same as a plastic kit. After that is a test fit followed by parts pinning. Basically drill holes and stick the parts together with a piece of wire. During the test fit, I noticed there's a huge gap in the back of her cape. I wish i'd taken 'before/after' pics, but you only get an after. As you can see in the pic, there's no more gap. What I did was use a little 'green stuff' putty to fill the gap and resculpt a little detail on it.

Here's the figure primed, and below that is the first layer of paint. She's gonna be a white chick, but i'm starting with a dark base layer for the skin. This is actually different than my usual figure painting, where I would paint a medium tone and add highlights and darks, but this technique is something artists use for painting on canvas, so I thought i'd give it a try.

That's it for today.

1/48 Tiger S33 - Complete!

2011-03-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

So, here are the final pics of my Tiger. It was a fun build, but I had some issues. The WWII productions resin tracks for example. They snapped together easily, but when it came time for paint, they kept falling apart and driving me insane! The Eduard photoetch makes the kit look awesome, but again, it drives me insane! I lost quite a few pieces and had to scratch build a lot of things.. it sucks.. but once you go photo-etch, it's hard to 'not' use them after.

Anyways, enjoy, and note in the last pic, my new silver medal that I got at the SCAHMS show today!

(click the pics for a bigger view)

Oh.. and my Tank Commander got a bronze! Woot!

1/48 Tiger - Progress

2011-03-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

I know.. it's been a while since I posted anything. Let me apologize about the AFS kit. I started it and intend to finish, but it's been put on hold for a bit. Mostly because I was having trouble finding a suitable base, and when that happens, it kills my motivation, but that's been taken care of and it'll resume in the near future. Another reason I haven't been working on it is because I wanted to finish the Tiger I that I started almost exactly a year ago.

Here are a couple in progress shots.

Primer

Base color followed by camo and decals.

Now let's talk about road wheels. The Tiger has a lot. Painting them can seem like a bitch, but here's an easy way.

Here they are.. ugh.. looks intimidating.

But not really.. first step is to pain them all black, which is the outer rubber color.

Then take a circle template, used for drafting/arts and find a hole that matches the inside "metal" part of the wheels. Stick the wheel in the hole and paint the metal color.

And voila.. painted wheels.

Next up is the finished pics.. i'm making a new post for it because i've already posted a lot of pics in this one.

Ma.K AFS II 01.12.11

2011-01-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

Been a while since i've worked on this. I haven't quit on it, just was busy with the holidays amongst other things.. but here I am again.

I might've mentioned before that the suit had no pilot head. Or maybe I didn't.. *shrug... anyways, It had no pilot head. At first I was gonna just make it an empty suit, but when I stood the girl mechanic next to it, with her big smiling grin on her face, it just seemed weird. I mean, what's she grinning at? Inside joke? Maybe she's just a little crazy (she is a woman after all.. j/k ladies.. wait.. ladies reading a model blog? ..nevermind) Anyways, where was I.. oh yeah, it seemed weird that she was laughing at nothing, so I decided to just sculpt my own head. So here's a few shots of where it is at the moment.

I also tried working on the hand. Spreading the fingers apart, but the original part broke when I tried sawing it. I mean it shattered into pieces.. lame.. luckily I had an extra hand from another kit. Of course, one of the fingers broke off, which is why the forefinger is white here. I had to make it from scratch. It turned out ok though.

So that's it for now... later.

Ma.K AFS II 11.15.10

2010-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

I added some joint covers with 'green stuff' putty. Next thing i'm planning to do is rebuild the hand. The old Nitto hand sucks compared to the recent Wave version. (Nitto = old manufacturer, Wave = current btw) Plus the hand on mine is broken anyway.. I'm also still deciding on the setting, and if I want to put a pilot head inside the suit or leave it empty.. decisions, decisions..

Next Up! Ma.K AFS MkII with female mechanic.

2010-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

I got a few Ma.K, or Maschinen Krieger, kits from someone that were partially assembled, or broken, or just scraps for free. I don't remember who it was.. but the one that's most complete is this AFS MkII suit. AFS stands for Armored Fighting Suit btw...

Check this link for more info:
http://www.roboterkampf.com/html/mak/index.htm

So, I bought this female mechanic, from the company Brick Works. She's made specifically for the Ma.K universe, I think she's on the Mercenary side (good guys I think). It's a nice sculpt, and I can't wait to paint her, but she needed something to go along with her, and what's better than a mech suit?! (Answer = not much) Enter the AFS MkII. Since it was built already.. mostly anyway, and then some pieces lost or broken, it's going to need some work. It's missing the pilot's head, but not a big deal since i'll probably just make it an empty suit anyway. Like I mentioned before, most of it's there, so it shouldn't be difficult to get it up to specs.

I still have to figure out a layout for the base/vignette, but in the meantime, here are a couple of in progress shots.

First up is the overall pic

These are some of the armor parts that I started putting texture on with some Mr. Surfacer 500 and the smashing up and down technique. http://www.bhop73.com/models/texture_tut/smash.gif

1/35 U.S. Tank Commander - Complete

2010-11-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

I started this at one of the local model meets, maybe the Sept. meet.. dunno.. anyways, I was trying to get it done for Orangecon, but never did because I didn't want to rush it, so I took my time. I finally finished it today. Sadly this is the only model i've finished this year.. but I think i'm back in the mindset of model building now.

The base (cobblestone sidewalk) was made with green stuff putty. The leaves in the gutter were cut out of metal foil from a wine bottle. That's pretty much it.. painted with Vallejo acrylics.

Back Into Modeling

2010-11-09T22:56:00.001-08:00

Scale modeling that is.. Building scale models used to be a big hobby of mine, before I got my bicycles and increased my camera collection.

A couple years ago, I seemed to lose interest, well, maybe not lost interest, but just didn't have the motivation to build stuff. I still bought a few kits to add to my pile, and I did build a couple things within the past 2 years, but not much, a figure of Cammy from Street Fighter, a Tie Fighter from Star Wars... that might be it, I can't remember...

Well, it seems i've finally got my motivation back. Maybe it's the cooler weather. Anyways, a few posts down is the Tiger tank I was building, but i'm putting that on hold for a while. I'm almost finished with this U.S. tank commander, from Alpine models. 1/35 scale. I plan to make a gallery page for my models with a link on the sidebar, but I have yet to get started on it. In the meantime, i'll try to update this blog with my progress. After this figure is done, I have some other stuff I plan to start on.. I actually have already, but i'll get into that later.

Rode In An Ambulance Today

2010-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Luckily it wasn't a bike accident, but it was bike related.

Basically around 11:30-ish, sitting at my desk at work, I felt dizzy, clammy skin, weak legs, little tingling in my left hand.. same symptoms as a heart attack/stroke, and heart problems run in my family, so i freaked out and probably got a panic attack from that... felt like i was gonna pass out.

The boss called 911 and the ambulance came. EMTs did some tests and my blood pressure was through the roof, blood sugar was low, around 50ish. (normal is 80-100). I told them about my bike ride to work (13 miles) they asked if I ate breakfast, apparently they don't think a muffin is enough.. So they gave me some sugary stuff in a tube, then took me to the ER, where I saw the doc (who was super cute btw). She made me eat a ham sandwich and some apple juice. As i laid around, my blood pressure and blood sugar went back to normal. They did an ekg test for my heart while i was there, said it was good... must be the bike.

So basically it was dehydration and not enough food for the amount I ride. I had only eaten a muffin and drank most, not all, of my water bottle during the ride, then followed that by a large coffee.. My body just reached its limit I guess. I just need to eat and drink more when I ride to make up for the energy burned.. just glad it was nothing big..thought i was a goner.

Bonus is the doc said i'm fine to ride home.. just have to eat when I get there. :)

1/48 Early Tiger - Tamiya

2010-03-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

So, i've been building again. It's been awhile, I think I only finished one or two things last year. I need to start digging into my closet pile.. it's around 150 deep.. probably more actually.. dunno.. but anyways..

Here's the kit.

So far i've shaved off some of the molded on hull parts and i've been replacing them with eduard photoetch. Time consuming and annoying. Everything's so damn small.. I lost a couple things and had to make stuff from scratch, but you can't tell in the pics.

Here's what i've done so far.

That's it for now. I think this post will be taking my blog into a new direction, mostly updates for my model builds. I should update this damn thing more often anyway..

Dark Haired Girl

2009-11-29T21:25:00.000-08:00

So, I recently got a new computer. It's more powerful than my old G4 Mac.. 24" monitor.. it makes making digital art much easier.

Blink.. Rest In Peace

2009-10-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a sad day... I had to let my cat Blink go. She wasn't eating, wasn't drinking... her kidneys were just too far gone.. she was the best cat ever. My best friend.. she was 14 years old. I love you Blink.. ;_;

Hard Times

2009-10-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Blink's not getting any better.. she's actually getting worse. She won't drink. She spits out the food I try to feed her. I've been giving her Subcutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated enough to make it to the vet.. crap...

Last Week Sucked..

2009-10-20T21:59:00.001-07:00

So, last week, my cat almost died. (This was posted elsewhere on Oct. 16th 2009)

Here's the story. Blink's been getting these lumps on her skin for a while, couple months ago I guess. Some she was licking to the point of bleeding and stuff. I took her to the vet to figure it out, he checked for cancer, and she was clear, but it was something called Sterile Pyogranuloma Syndrome, which is treatable with steroid shots. But last week, she stopped eating, and was drinking and peeing A LOT and getting super thin.

Then last weekend, i noticed she was having a hard time drinking, like she would stick her face in her bowl, but wasn't drinking, then she was having a hard time even walking around, she was all wobbly, and if she tried to jump off stuff, like the couch, she would fall over.

Of course, the vet's closed on sundays, so I took her monday morning. Well, the vet checked her out, and told me that she was severely dehydrated to the point where i might have to put her to sleep.. of course, I was freaked out.. but told the vet I couldn't do that without a fight and to do what he can. I mean, i've had her since '95. She's like my kid..

So I skipped work and was sweatin' it all day, but by the end of the day, she was getting better, and the doc said she's gonna pull through! He said he did some tests and found out that because of the steroid medicine, she is now a diabetic! Good news and bad news at once.. good because she's alive, bad because now she's got diabetes and needs shots twice a day.

So that's about it.. she's been at the vet since Monday morning. Five days and four nights later, she's home! If i'd waited any longer, she probably would've been a goner... my bank account is pretty damaged right now, but it's worth every penny.

Huge Thanks to Dr. Martin of Parkview Pet Clinic in Glendale.. the best vet ever.

---

So that's the story of Blink. Things are going ok, it's been a few days, but she's still not eating on her own. I have to force food into her mouth and make her swallow. She's keeping it down though, and drinking. She doesn't seem to mind her insulin shots, but she worries me. Today she was hiding from me when I got home. I think because of the force feeding.. dunno..

HGUC Marasai

2009-08-29T01:02:00.001-07:00

Ok, i'm a Gundam nerd. I build model kits and Gundam models are part of my model stash. So, i've been working on this Marasai mobile suit kit. It's HGUC, 1/144 scale. So far i've only snapped it to test fit and see what kind of modifications or improvements to make.

That was weeks ago.. lately i've been actually doing some work on it. Motivation is hard to come by, but honestly, I think the reason i'm motivated is because I want to clear my workbench to work on my 1/16 Jagdpanther..

In this pic, you can see the work i've done on the kit if you're familiar with Gundam kits. Mostly just sanding seams (hguc kits have a lot) and adding small details like under armor fills and such.. more progress to come.

Drivers don't just hate cyclists, they hate each other..

2009-07-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, i'm riding my bike home from work. Four way stop sign, a truck is stopping and a car behind it moves over to the right of the truck. (nearly cutting me off in the process). The car had their right turn signal on so it looked like they were going to turn right, but floored it and went straight anyway, cutting off the truck and causing it to brake to avoid hitting the car.

Then the truck floored it and stuck on the car's ass and when the car stopped at the next block (lots of four way stops on this section) the truck just kept going around it without stopping. Where are cops when this kind of stuff happens?

So I see them down the road, at the next four way stop. (third one) The truck is stopped with the car stopped behind.. nobody's coming, the truck doesn't move. Still nobody coming, still the truck doesn't move. Eventually they tire of their "game", the truck turns and the car goes straight.

What's really funny about it, is that they were in such a hurry, wasting so much gas, breaking traffic laws, etc. and I, on a bike, pretty much caught up with them.

What a world..

Trader Joes makes me feel young.

2009-07-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

So, there I was at Trader Joes tonight, buying a couple bottles of 2 buck chuck and some frozen enchiladas. The lady there asked for my ID, which is normal I guess, but then when she looked at my actual age, she said she thought I was young, like 21 or something.. then another lady came over and tried to guess my age. She said 25. I'm 36 for the record...

Nearly A Goner

2009-07-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Bike ride to work was pretty good. Light traffic for some reason..

Afternoon, not too bad. Traffic was heavier, but seemed 'normal'.. for L.A. anyway.. overall pretty good..

..that is, until I nearly won a prize..... of the door variety

I generally try to stay out of the door zone, but somehow I wandered a little close to the parked cars and wouldn't you know it, someone flings their door wide open causing me to hit the brakes (luckily I ride with my hands over my brakes in heavy traffic), slightly swerve in the small space I had after I took a quick glance to my left to make sure I wasn't gonna get squashed by a car/bus/truck, and curse very loudly throughout the ordeal. I think my squeaking front brake, along with the cursing, might've helped them notice me enough to pull their door slightly closed (not all the way of course), but enough for me to squeeze by and catch my breath behind a stopped bus.

I feel pretty lucky. I think if I were a couple inches more to the right, I would've been a goner, or if they had opened their door a second later.

Man.. I'm gonna go have a beer now..

Anime Expo 2009

2009-07-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

Whew.. what a weekend. First of all, it was 4th of July, so that made it a three day weekend, which is always nice. I don't feel like typing much, so I'll keep this short and sweet.. I just feel like I really should update this blog more often... So the title suggests, Anime Expo. I went on Friday and Saturday. Both days were full days.. woke up, showered, jumped on the subway, and wandered around the convention center all day long... I shot a few pics, mostly with my Leica.. but a few digital too. My friend Clement was hosting some Gundam model seminars, so I sat in on those too, even though I know all the stuff he talks about already :D

I watched a couple animes in the screening rooms.. mostly, just people watched though. It was fun, but I don't think this year was as fun as the last couple years. I'm not really sure why that is, maybe it's the anime they were showing didn't interest me as much, or maybe it's that everything felt smaller somehow.. dunno.. Anyways, after the show, we had dinner Friday night in Little Tokyo. It was pretty tasty, but the three beers I had made it even better. Thanks to Dave for giving me a lift home.. heh..

So day two (for me, technically day 3 of the show) was pretty much more of the same as day one. Wandered, took pics, I only took my Leica and one 50mm lens with me this time though, so that made things a little more interesting. It's funny how much attention that camera gets. I had quite a few people come up to me and mention it, or ask about it... that never happens with my other cameras. Speaking of cameras, I'm a little pissed. I lost my lens hood for my Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. It must've just got knocked off while pushing through crowds. I also lost the little cap that goes into the flash port on my M6... bummer...

see, look at all those people staring at my camera..

so, that's my Anime Expo 2009 experience. I didn't buy much stuff, just a $100 gundam tank kit *sniffle*.. but food added up $$$. It was fun, but can't wait for next year... when i'll feel even older around those youngsters.. @_@

Forgot to mention, I won a trophy for my Cammy model kit I built. Sweet..

LA Metro.. You Suck....

2009-06-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

I ride the bus to work on days I don't ride my bike. Today, I am riding along, reading my book and notice the bus get into the turn lane a few miles from where it's supposed to. I go ask the driver about it, she tells me "This is the Short Line".. what the heck? I've never heard of that... so I get off and skate the rest of the way to work, couple miles, luckily mostly downhill, but still..

Now that i'm at work, I looked it up, apparently there was a change in the service. It'd have been nice if Metro put up some notices or something.. bastards.. .. ..

*rant over*

Bike Commute Madness!

2008-12-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

So, I'm about four blocks from my apt. Minding my own business on a two lane road, passing parked cars, I hear the squeal of tires as a car behind me slams on brakes. I swerve to the right since i'm just passing parked cars and I don't know what's going on behind me. I don't want to get rear ended, that's for sure. I look back now that i'm safe to the side, some guy is directly behind me, revving and braking alternately and honking. He turns right onto a street as we pass it, I slow down and glare, he stops, rolls down his window and yells in a thick Armenian accent, "Get out of my way, get on .. (indecipherable, assume 'on sidewalk') .. motherfucker!" We both go on our way, having lost about 5 seconds from our respective commutes.

What I wonder, is was that guy's anger worth the 5 second delay?

(Sh)itsubishi Rant

2008-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

I own a car as well as my bike. It's a 1995, Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T. I've had it since, maybe.... '98. It has a turbo and that makes it a fun car to drive. It looks nice when it's clean, it's fast, but it's the most unreliable piece of shit. It's a love-hate thing.. although, now that I hardly ever drive anymore, it's more of a hate. I've spent thousands of dollars on repairs over the years when something just breaks for no reason, and yes, it's for no reason. I don't even really drive it hard. I drive like a grandma because it's a gas hog. I've replaced the axle, maybe three times, the clutch, the clutch master and slave cylinders at least four times. Alternator, multiple sensors. I had to replace the entire engine head once, had to have part of the body welded because it cracked. I hate this car.. it's nickname is 'The Black Hole' because it's got that effect on my bank account.

I actually only drive it about once or twice a month now. Many moons ago I stopped driving it to work. What happened was my clutch broke and left me stranded in the middle of a busy intersection during a lunch break from work. I paid about 300 bucks to have that fixed, then just one week later, my alternator died, so I had that fixed, but too soon, I couldn't take it, I snapped.. I decided, fuckit, i'm riding the bus from now on. (then later started biking) Plus I just got sick of sitting in bumper to bumper L.A. traffic. My work is around 13 miles from my apt. It takes about 45 minutes to get there in my car because of traffic. In the afternoon, it can take an hour and a half on a bad day to get home, again, because of traffic. In comparison, my bike takes an hour each way, not much difference with the benefit of exercise and skipping the gym... the bus is about an hour and a half each way. The car is stressful... that's the main reason I stopped... and gas prices. If I drove my car to work, it'd cost me around $150+ a month. Bike is free, and exercise to boot... The monthly bus pass is $70, cheaper than gas, and can be ok, but because of the high gas prices (i'm assuming it's why) it's more crowded and I always have to stand now... it sucks.. I can't wait till my leg muscles are strong enough to bike every day.

I started typing this because tonight, the 2nd time i've driven this month, only once last month, the month before that, not at all.. .i'm taking my friend home from a bus stop and what happens.. the damn Check Engine Light comes on. The car just can't let me win.. I've only driven it around 150 miles since I got it serviced.. so what the fuck could be wrong with it this time? Mitsubishis officially break down for no reason, this is proof... damn it, i'll never buy one again.. i hate it.. damn Shitsubishi..

LA Metro.. Sometimes It Really Sucks

2008-07-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

L.A. Metro. It's our city's public transportation system. Buses and trains. You see the advertising all over town to "Go Metro and save $$". They're trying to get people to realize that, yes, there is alternate transportation other than a car in L.A. It's true, it does work during usual work hours. I take the bus to work when i'm not riding my bike. It gets there in a reasonable time, and I can get home in a decent time as well, but anytime after work hours and you're screwed. The problem is the waiting. I don't know if the buses are just running less later at night or if they're horribly off shedule, but it sucks balls..

Example 1: Last Wed. I went out for some drinks after work with some coworkers. I left the bar/restaurant at around 7:30. At that time, my normal freeway bus isn't running anymore, so I have to take a couple buses instead of just one. No bid deal right? Wrong.. first bus comes quick, and before you know it, i'm at Pico/Fairfax, the location where I'll hop on the next bus. Well.. I have to wait for it I guess.... and wait some more.... and friggin' wait some more... eventually, at least 45 MINUTES LATER!! the bus finally came. (some old lady next to me was complaining too). So now it creeps up Fairfax at a snails pace, picking up and dropping off people. Eventually we get to Hollywood to find that the path is blocked because of a movie premiere so we have to go around, and traffic is fucked meaning that's an extra half hour of bus riding instead of what would've been about 10 minutes.. Ok, this isn't the bus's fault.. i'll give 'em that.. damn Hollywood! So to the point.. what takes me a little over an hour on my bicycle, just turned into a 2 hour bus ride... ugh...

Example 2: Last Night, Sunday July, 27. Gnarls Barkley played at the Hollywood bowl. My friend and I rode the bus down there because parking is a bitch, and the 217 bus is a straight shot to Hollywood/Highland. Worked ok, this was around 6:30. So after the show, 10:30-10:45.. somethin' like that. We're walking down and when we get to the red light at Hollywood/Highland, what do I see across the street? Our bus home... of course it leaves before we can cross the street and catch it. So now we decide just to walk down the street in the direction of home instead of waiting... we get to Vine Metro station and figure, surely a bus will be by soon.. at this point it's around 11:30-ish.. so about an hour after that last 217 bus. Still nothing in sight.. annoying as hell. We decide to take the subway train to Western and walk from there... we get into the subway station and the train takes about a half hour to get there.. so by the time we get home, it ended up taking us 2 hours.. that's only 2 miles away! We shoulda walked...

Go Metro indeed! So LA Metro wants people to take public transportation and that'd be great if it wasn't such a pain in the ass. Maybe i'm missing something, but it seems like they don't think about night life. I guess in the end, LA really is just a car town.

...end rant...

Tie Fighter - Complete

2008-07-14T22:54:00.001-07:00

Well.. Here she is.. all finished. Painted with Tamiya acrylics. That's basically it..

more views:
rear view
side view
closeup of pod

Bike Commuting

2008-07-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

MAN!! I've had my new bike for 3 days now, enough time on the saddle to know that I am in love with it. Today I commuted to work on it and holy smokes, what a difference from the ol' Huffy. I feel much better about riding with traffic because it's easier to keep up. On a couple downhill streets, I was actually going as fast, or faster than some cars. I couldn't do that with the Huffy because of the gearing (and the fear of it breaking on me). I love the bike. It was expensive, but worth it. Thanks Uncle Sam (stimulus check)

My New Ride

2008-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, a couple months ago, I started commuting a couple times a week to work on my bike. (13 miles one way) My previous bike is a Huffy Ironman mountain bike. One reason was I just got sick of LA traffic. It actually only takes an extra 15 minutes to get there when I ride compared to driving, because of shitty traffic, although, I don't really drive anymore either. On the days I don't bike, I ride the bus, but that'd be another story....

Anyways.. I enjoyed riding, and the feeling of arriving at work after the ride, so much that I decided I wanted a new bike that was better built for the road than my old mountain bike. After deciding the type and testing a few different brands and models, I decided to go with the Jamis Aurora you see above. I got it from Hollywood Pro Bicycles, a small shop right on the Hollywood walk of fame. So far my dealings with them have been great, they've been pretty helpful to any questions I have and since it's new, it's got a year of free maintenance at the shop.

As you can probably imagine, going from a mtb to this road bike (touring bike technically) is like trading in an SUV for a sports car. (maybe not a Ferrari type sports car, more of a 350z :D ). Today I took it for a spin (and probably will go for a small night ride in a bit) and the bike is great. I'm so glad I got it.

Anime Expo 2008

2008-07-11T21:18:00.001-07:00

So, last weekend I went to Anime Expo. It was fun. I mostly walked around to the different video rooms and watched some anime that was showing. I also hung out with some friends that were there. One of the highlights of the weekend was watching the new Evangelion remake, in movie form. It was so much better than watching that long confusing series IMO. I took a few pics.

--the whole set on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/sets/72157606006897993

Imperial Entanglements...

2008-06-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

Ok.. I didn't want to have a new blog without something cool to put on it, so here's what i've been working on. It's almost done, this is just a sneak peek. It's the Fine Molds 1/72 scale TIE Fighter. It probably took only a few hours to finish, although it took me about a week and a half I guess... working on it in small bits only a few days. These Fine Molds kits just go together without hardly any work... but I like the painting stage the best anyway, so it works for me.

First Post

2008-06-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is, Instead of updating my web site, I got lazy and just made this blog... That's it for now, i'll probably add some stuff later... oh..and dangit.. those glasses in the pic, I really liked them but they broke today, doesn't that suck?